Elizabeth Womack and her family recently moved to a home in Sparta, MO. When her mixed breed dog Chase went missing on November 10, she immediately began searching for him. After getting the runaround from Sparta police chief Andrew Spencer for a week, Ms. Womack was finally given Chase’s dead body along with a story of what happened.
Spencer said the day Chase got out of his yard, someone had called 911 to report a dog charging at residents. He described the dog as aggressive, a claim the owner disputes:
“The only reason our dog would charge at anybody would be to play,” says Womack, “He was just such a playful little pup. He had no aggression. He didn’t know what that was.”
With the aid of a citizen and a chokepole, Spencer reportedly lured Chase into a crate. City ordinance required Spencer to then take the dog to a veterinary facility for a 5 day holding period and to post the pet’s description at city hall so the owner could find him. Instead Spencer took Chase to a shooting range and shot the caged pet to death.
Spencer says he had contacted a shelter and was told they wouldn’t accept the dog. And that he had received another call about a rollover car wreck and needed to respond to that right away so he didn’t have time to secure housing for Chase. He only had enough time to drive to the shooting range and kill the pet before responding to the rollover accident, apparently. I’d hate to be the injured driver hanging upside down by my seat belt, waiting on Spencer to get finished playing Big Man Shoot Dog in Box.
Ms. Womack says that she should have been contacted via Chase’s microchip information. You know microchips, the things municipal employees always wave in our faces every time they kill an owned pet who didn’t have one. If only you would have microchipped your animal, everything would be ok.
After much public outcry, Spencer, who has been in law enforcement only three years, was placed on paid leave a few hours prior to the Sparta Board of Aldermen meeting on November 24 where a large crowd was expected.
Ms. Womack and approximately 100 supporters attended the city meeting seeking justice. Sparta has a pitbull ban in place and the subject of discrimination based on body shape came up at the meeting:
State Rep. Lynn Morris also attended the meeting, saying that he thinks there is an issue of profiling animals, in this case, a pit bull.
“A person who could be mean or kill an animal doesn’t need to be a person who takes care of people,” Morris said, which was followed by applause. “People that are cruel to animals are cruel to people.”
Speakers at the meeting asked for charges against Spencer and sought changes to prevent this from happening to another family. I hope the city replaces the breed ban with a sensible ordinance based upon a dog’s actions – not how fat his head might be. Good for Ms. Womack and local residents for standing up and making their voices heard.
(Thanks Clarice.)
that sheriff is a low life piece of crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rest in peace sweet baby….the sheriff should be choke poled, put in a cage and shot!! One less piece of crap to take up space on this earth!!
i agree with you lynn! he is a low life piece of shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The things that cops do to dogs and sometimes people is absolutely shameful. There needs to be a movement to educate police about dogs and lots of law suits against the department until they start taking their actions seriously.
There is a documentary that was just made about this very subject. Of Dogs and Men. This is the link for the trailer of it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhxFGq4_u84
Thank you for sharing this. Condolences to Ms. Womack and I hope there is justice for Chase.
Gosh, I’ve got an emergency to respond to. Let me just…hm, well, I could take the dog to a vet and ask them to house him for a few hours until I get this sorted out. Or I could just leave the cage in the back of my car until I get this sorted out (you know, to rush to the scene of an accident with all due speed), or I could … drive out to the shooting range, drag the cage out there and shoot the dog, then…I guess do something with the body and cage… then I’ll run to the scene of the accident. Yeah! That sounds like the best plan of all! I’m such a good cop!
What. A. Jackass. Not only destroyed a family, but put other lives in danger to do it (hope someone was helping at the accident scene that he needed to get to so gosh darn fast he had to take lots of time to shoot a dog before he went there – wait, that doesn’t make any sense at all, never mind, we’ll think of something later).
Clearly so many errors in judgment, this guy needs to NOT be in any sort of public service at all. Unless he’s sweeping streets. Maybe he can clean up after accidents. At least he won’t be tempted to shoot broken glass for being a danger to the public or something.
Spencer also taxed a 68 year old man in Sparta in January. Then his dad became chief, and was chiefs for a very short time before he moved to deputy sheriff for Christian County. There were 3 officers; Spencer, and two trainees. After heavy debate about his lack of decision making skills and overall lack of experience for the job, the aldermen still gave him the job bc they couldn’t afford to pay to bring anyone in. Chase was a rescue dog. He was adopted from a very reputable rescue group here in Springfield. I assure you, they did not adopted out an aggressive dog. His story has changed multiple times. The night before the meeting Sparta Police department took to their Facebook page to argue and play childish games. Screenshot were taken before they removed their page. Thank you for recognizing the lack of sense it makes to go shoot a dog before responding to a roll over at the high school. The dog was kenneled. He posed no risks. Rescue world in our area is loud and stubborn. We will get Chase justice. Thank you for sharing his story. Unfortunately we are left wondering how many others are out there buried that didn’t have a voice.
Assholes! RIP sweet doggy.
BOYCOT SPARTA,MISSOURI
This hurts my heart to the very core. That poor pup who was absolutely scared to death. I hope Chase gets justice and that a-hole sheriff gets his for sure!
P.S. I just found the City of Sparta’s webpage with contact info: http://www.spartamo.com/contact-us/
Sparta, MO has an asshole for a Sheriff!!! He obviously did absolutely NOTHING to treat the animal with a modicum of care and respect. Just go out and murder the dog. Don’t let the owners know about it for a week. Too busy being a piece of shit. I feel sorry for the people that live there. If he will treat an animal this way, he will also have little respect for human beings. He needs to be fired, fined, and spend some time in jail. He is an animal abuser and it is now a felony in all states for anyone that abuses or neglects an animal. People of Sparta, look hard at the true character of a person before you elect them Sheriff. He is definitely a poor excuse of a human being. The neighbor that called in a complaint on the dog is pure moron that doesn’t know the difference between a friendly puppy and an aggressive dog. Merry Christmas to the good, decent people of Sparta. Keep your children and pets safe from the other half-wits in town and the dangerous Sheriff prowling your streets.
The police chief has resigned.
http://m.ccheadliner.com/news/sparta-police-chief-resigns/article_0b3013a4-9e82-11e5-ade9-5fe444728a77.html?mode=jqm
GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!